Hong Kong’s High Court on Thursday found 14 activists guilty of “subversion” in the city’s biggest trial against pro-democracy campaigners since imposed a .
Those who were found guilty included former lawmakers Leung Kwok-hung, Lam Cheuk-ting, Helena Wong and Raymond Chan. Two former district councilors Lee Yue-shun and Lawrence Lau were acquitted.
In 2021, 47 protesters and activists, known as the Hong Kong 47, were charged under the national security law with “conspiracy to commit subversion.”
The remaining 31 defendants of the Hong Kong 47 pleaded guilty, while the other 16 maintained their innocence.
Beijing defends the law — which followed mass pro-democracy protests — as necessary to maintain stability.
Trial closely watched abroad
The trial has been closely watched internationally, with diplomats from the US, Britain and Europe having attended court proceedings.
Those countries have criticized the trial as politically motivated and have called for the accused to be immediately released.
Supporters of the defendants queued overnight to be in the courtroom, with one telling reporters: “I came because it’s a critical stage and a historical moment (for Hong Kong).”
“They (the democrats) all stood up for themselves and for Hong Kong people, hoping to make a change.”
What are the charges related to?
Mass pro-democracy protests erupted in Hong Kong in 2019 over the NSL that was being planned at the time by Beijing.
Democrats argued the NSL would infringe on freedoms guaranteed when Hong Kong was handed back to China by the British in 1997.
The charges center around an unofficial pre-selection ballot in July 2020 that prosecutors called a “vicious plot” to paralyze government.
The democrats maintain it was an unofficial attempt to select the strongest candidates for a citywide election in a bid to win a historic majority in Hong Kong’s legislature.
km/fb (Reuters/AP)
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